Friday, August 3, 2012

Cardboard

What can you do with cardboard? A simple material that we toss away or recycle without a second thought. This morning, I woke before the birds, was on Pinterst (my newest addiction) and I came across MaryAnne's cardboard board on Pinterest. MaryAnne's website is mamasmiles

Searching cardboard on Pinterest will populate boards upon boards of inspiration! From a simple baby doll car seat to elaborate cardboard sculptures! WOW - the creativity that is out there astounds me and inspires me!

So, the wheels are turning and instead of throwing out box upon box, cardboard toilet paper tubes or tissue boxes - what can we turn these into?

I saw somewhere, a while back, the idea of taking a tissue box and turning it into dice for a large group activity. It would also be a great alternative to the smaller dice making noise and landing all over the room after being rolled.

Digging in my tote of teaching materials I came across felt and started to think. Hmmm...how about a felt board die. And then, I thought, if it is felt you could make it anything you want. All you need is velcro! Add velcro to the back of letters and it could turn into a game during circle or small group to practice letter sounds. Add velcro to the back of numbers, and kids could roll and practice counting sets. The options are endless.

To make you will need:
One empty tissue box
Felt with adhesive on the back (I only had red - I think blue or green would be best)
Scissors
Marker to measure your square

And here are couple of ways you could use your new rollable felt board:

I would love to hear what you are doing with all those empty boxes :).

Saturday, August 4th Update: Pizza Box Drying Rack
I came across this great space and money saving organization idea for your classroom in my blog travels this morning. To make it more personal, you could have the kids paint or decorate it in some way as well!